Onto the Next
by Jeni27
Summary: Arnold and Helga have been separated by time and distance. What will happen when Arnold comes back. With old and new friends looking on, will our two favorite characters FINALLY get their acts together?...
1. Fights in the Park

A/N: I've had this idea for a while and it won't leave me alone. So, I decided to write it (or type it as the case may be).

Disclaimer: In my dreams, I own Hey Arnold!...Only in my dreams though.

Dedication: This story goes out to my friend, Kelly, for putting up with all my insanity, and listening to my insecurities about it.

**Onto the Next**

_**...Next to being married, a girl likes to be crossed in love a little now and then. It is something to think of, and gives her a sort of distinction among her companions.**_

_**-Mr. Bennet, Pride and Prejudice**_

Chapter 1: Fights in the Park.

Lila Sawyer considered herself to be a pretty optimistic person. But even optimistic people have bad days. And Lila Sawyer was having a VERY BAD DAY!

She waited for Lorenzo at the park, just like she had every morning since the middle of 7th grade when they started dating. Only on this particular day, Lorenzo didn't show up like he usually did. She had news. Exciting news that she wanted to share with him.

Her 'Big Sis' was getting married. Olga Pataki and Jason Lilywhite had been dating 'exclusively' for years. They even had a set of twins that were two years old. Much to the dismay of Mr. Pataki. So much for being the 'perfect child', Lila thought ruefully. Even so, the name Lilywhite could get you far in this city. And to have that sort of connection was a dream for someone like Robert Pataki. He wouldn't do anything to mess up that chance, even if he disapproved of his grandchildren being born out of wedlock. Mr. Pataki was weird when it came to morals.

Lila was to be in the wedding. Of course, she wouldn't be the maid of honor, that right was given to Helga. And that was ok with Lila. Lila and Helga got along well enough. Especially after Helga and Arnold had become friends back in the fifth grade just before Arnold had found his parents. Lila wasn't sure what exactly had happened while they were in the jungle, but she was happy for them. Everyone else had been surprised by this turn of events. Except for Phoebe, of course. Lila chuckled at this. It was such a bittersweet story.

Arnold had stayed in San Lorenzo with his parents and Helga had come back to the states. But, she had changed. Drastically. Everyone noticed the change too. She was happier, much nicer. It was as if a light had been turned on inside her. And that light was Arnold. And then, one day towards the end of seventh grade, that light started to dim. Nobody really noticed. Except for Gerald, Phoebe and Lila. Helga started to get quieter, she seemed to distance herself more. She wasn't as outspoken. She didn't go back to bullying, she just...drifted off into her own world. And then THAT DAY happened. Lila could remember the events clearly as if they had happened yesterday.

_:Flashback:_

"_Where do you want to meet to do this ?" Gerald asked Lila and Phoebe. Mr. Connors had just finished assigning a science project to his seventh grade class. They were to work in groups of three, and come up with their own idea of what to do. Originality was the key to passing Mr. Connors class._

_Gerald, Lila, and Phoebe were standing next to Gerald's locker discussing the project, when Helga Pataki ran by. She had her head down and looked as if she had been crying._

"_Hold that thought, Gerald". Phoebe said. She ran after Helga to see what was wrong. After all, it wasn't every day that you saw Helga G. Pataki running away from something crying. _

_Gerald turned to Lila looking confused._

"_I think I'll go see what I can find out", Lila said._

"_Yeah, good luck with that", Gerald scoffed. Helga didn't open up to anyone. Except for maybe, and this was a huge maybe, Phoebe and Arnold. From what Gerald understood about that, was they had to drag any information about her personal life out of her. _

_Lila frowned at him and started to walk off in the direction that Phoebe and Helga had gone. Then stopping for a split second she turned back around to Gerald._

"_Hey, Gerald", she began, "Meet us at Slausen's in an hour. I'll let Phoebe know, and if you see Lorenzo, would you tell him where I am? Thank you ever so much"!_

_Not waiting for an answer from him, Lila took off once again for the restroom that she saw the two girls go into._

_Gerald shrugged his shoulders and turned away, wondering to himself if girls would ever make sense. "Probably not", he thought ruefully._

_Lila went charging into the girls bathroom and froze instantly. The sight before her was surreal. As far as Lila knew, there was nobody in the school that could bring Helga Pataki to tears. And Helga was definitely shedding some tears. She was curled up in a ball sitting in a corner sobbing uncontrollably. _

"_I can't understand what you're saying, Helga." Phoebe was saying in her quiet way. She was sitting in front of Helga, trying to give her some comfort._

_Helga took a couple of deep breaths and said in a very shaky voice, "He doesn't want to write to me anymore". And then she instantly burst into more tears. Lila looked dumbfounded at this. She had no idea what Helga was talking about. Phoebe pulled Helga into a tight hug.  
She knew of the troubles that Helga was having in her family and that Arnold's letters were one of the few things that kept her going. What she didn't understand was why on earth Arnold would stop writing to her. Unless..._

"_Helga," Phoebe began tentatively, "have you wrote back to Arnold at all?"_

"_Yes...I have...I'm constantly writing letters to him." _

"_How many of those letters have you actually sent, Helga?" Phoebe interrupted her._

"_About, four?..."_

_Phoebe sighed. Lila, who had gone unnoticed by the two girls sitting in the corner gasped at this confession._

_Helga and Phoebe looked over at her. She was standing in front of the bathroom door covering her mouth with her hand._

_A sneer covered Helga's face at the sight of Lila. "If you so much as mention anything you heard in here, Li-La..."_

"_Helga," Phoebe interrupted, "I don't think Lila will say anything to anyone. Will you, Lila?" She asked the red headed girl._

_Lila shook her head no, confirming what Phoebe had just said. "But, you've only sent Arnold four letters, Helga? All this time he's been gone, and you've only sent four!?" She asked incredulously. She couldn't believe it. It was just incredible to her. Lila **knew **how much Arnold meant to Helga. She was probably one of the first and one of the few to know Helga's secret. She couldn't wrap her mind around the idea that Helga wouldn't write to Arnold._

"_Yeah, Yeah. What's it to ya?" Helga said from Phoebe's shoulder. "It's not like it's any of YOUR business! But, I DID write to Arnold. A lot, actually, I just couldn't bring myself to send any of them. Except for four." She was starting to lose some of her steam. She looked dejected and lost._

_Lila didn't know how to deal with this Helga. The Helga that Lila knew was a force to be reckoned with. She was strong, she was...something that was definitely NOT the person in front of her. It was then that Lila saw what very few other people saw in Helga. She decided at that moment, that no matter how much Helga tried to push her away, she was going to do her best to be a friend to her._

_Helga broke away from Phoebe who was still hugging her. Standing up, she went to the sink and splashed some water on her face, doing her best to wipe away any remaining tears and get the puffiness to disappear from her eyes. She was grateful that she didn't bother with makeup very often. Looking at Phoebe and Lila's reflection's in the mirror, she whispered quietly, "Well, it's not like it matters anymore anyway. He's decided that it's not worth it to write to me anymore."_

_She turned around to face her best friend and Lila and said in a voice that didn't sound like it belonged to her but still stronger than previously, "This conversation, never happened". With that she walked around Lila and out of the restroom with her head held high. Lila turned around to watch her walk out._

_Behind her, Phoebe said quietly, "Forgetting"._

_'I doubt I'll ever forget' Lila thought. She doubted Phoebe would either._

_:End Flashback: _

Pulling herself out of the memory Lila realized she was still sitting on the bench waiting for Lorenzo.

"Where is he?" Lila wondered. She had been sitting there for an hour already. She wasn't normally one to be impatient, but this was just ridiculous. And that's when she saw them. A girl wearing a designer spring dress with her black hair cut into a short bob. And a dark skinned boy dressed in khaki pants and a sweater vest over a white t-shirt. Standing together about 150 feet away, in a little alcove of trees, almost hidden in the shadows, locked at the lips, was Lorenzo and Rhonda. At first, Lila thought she was seeing things. So, she decided to get a closer look. Just to see if her eyes weren't deceiving her.

As she moved closer to them she saw some bushes that were tall enough for her to hide behind and close enough to hear what they were saying. Just behind those bushes was a rock that stood about 8 feet high and was approximately 5 feet in width at the top. Helga had actually found this particular rock. It was where she would go to get peace from her parents. She had christened it 'Little Mountain'. It was easy to climb, and a cool place to relax. Lila felt special to be one of the few people that Helga had told about her special hiding place. To this day Lila didn't know how it was that nobody else besides the select few that Helga had told, didn't know about it. Or maybe they did, but they were just afraid that Helga would revert back to her bullying ways and beat them to a bloody pulp. Whatever the case, Lila was grateful to be hidden from all sides. She had never eavesdropped on a conversation before. Then again, she had never had a boyfriend that cheated on her either. Technically, Lorenzo was her first boyfriend, but she really didn't want to start thinking about technicalities.

Lorenzo couldn't _do_ this to her. She was nice, she was sweet, she was too young for this to happen. She didn't want to learn at the age of thirteen what heartbreak felt like. Of course, she could always go and ask Helga how she had dealt with it...then again, maybe not. That would definitely _**not**_ be a pleasant conversation.

At that moment Rhonda broke away from Lorenzo, bringing Lila out of her musings. "When are you going to break up with Lila"? Rhonda asked breathlessly. "I'm really tired of taking second place", she pouted.

Still hiding, Lila blanched at this. "How long has this been going on?" she wondered.

Lorenzo sighed . He had been trying to tell Lila for a while now. But, every time he went to tell her, she would get this huge smile on her face just from seeing him. He couldn't bring himself to take it away. He truly liked Lila. She was sweet and innocent. Almost too sweet and innocent. Rhonda, however, was impulsive and fun. She was exciting and Lorenzo liked the excitement. Plus his mother would be pleased if he dated someone in his 'class'. He liked it when his mother was pleased. She didn't bother him so much.

"I'll tell her later today, Rhonda", Lorenzo said. "I promise!" He added at the dubious look that she gave to him.

"Well, you had better, I..." Rhonda started to reply. She cut herself off, however, when she saw someone walking up the path towards them.

"Well, well, well...If it isn't North Hill Prep's perfect little angel", Rhonda began.

The girl, who was about the same age as them, had straight waist length brunette hair. She was also tan. As in golden tan. Even in a t-shirt and jeans, she looked exotic. She looked vaguely familiar to Lorenzo. Rhonda looked jealous of her. What she had to be jealous about was beyond him. But, Lorenzo was absolutely certain that Rhonda Wellington-Lloyd was jealous.

Lila was totally confused by this turn of events, so she decided to remain hidden where she was. That is until, she heard a noise behind her. "AHHHH!!" She screamed whirling around.

"So much for being incognito", Helga quipped from where she sat on the rock. Lila stared wide eyed at her blond friend.

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

Helga gave her a half-smile. Although it didn't quite reach her eyes, it was more than what Lila had seen from her in a while.

"I thought it was obvious", Helga said. "I'm scaring the hell out of you".

Lila looked at her incredulously.

This cracked Helga up. She couldn't help it. She had been sitting on the rock for about fifteen minutes waiting for Desiree´ to show up. Needless to say, she had seen the entire scene between Lorenzo and Rhonda. She was about to go and say something to them about the way they were treating Lila when Lila herself had shown up to spy. Helga doubted that Lila had ever had anything like this happen to her before. She was to sugary sweet for her own good.

"Ah, well..." Helga thought, "It'll get her mind off the competition tonight. And the fact that I won't be there to cheer her on."

Although Lila and Helga weren't the best of friends, they hung out in the same crowd of people and had some of the same friends. Ever since Lila had come bounding into the bathroom on that fateful day a little over a year ago, they had made a silent agreement that they would be there for each other. And with what Helga had just seen, Lila was going to be in need of a shoulder to cry on. "Where was Phoebe when you needed her?" Helga asked herself.

Hearing a scream and someone laugh behind the bushes across from them, Lorenzo and Rhonda forgot about the girl on the path and ran over to see what was going on. Bursting through the bushes, they instantly froze at the sight of Lila and Helga.

"H..How long have you two been here?" Lorenzo stuttered.

Helga raised half of her unibrow at him. "Long enough to know that you've been dating 'Princess' over there behind 'Miss Sugary Sweet's' back for a while now", she said.

"Shut up, Helga!" Rhonda cried. "You don't know what you're talking about, I mean, what makes you think that I...we would do something like that to Lila. I would never do that to one of my friends."

"Riiiiiiight..."Helga started.

Apparently going to dance camp together automatically made Rhonda and Lila friends in Rhonda's eyes. Looking at the expression on Lila's face though, had Helga thinking differently.

Lila had been sitting there silent through the entire exchange. She knew that Rhonda was capable of doing something like this. She just never expected for Rhonda to do it to her. Then again, she did steal, quite literally, the dance teams captainship for their freshman year out from underneath her.

As for Lorenzo, well, she liked him. She _really_ liked him. If Lorenzo had asked her to be his wife, she would have gladly said yes. She didn't care if they did have to wait five years for them to be adults.

"Stupid adolescent fantasies", Lila thought to herself. She was doing her very best to not break down into tears. She didn't want anyone to see her cry over a boy. Even if he was her first love. Plus Helga had told her to stay away from him. Granted, it was pure sarcasm when she had done it. But Lila doubted that Helga would have forgotten about it. Helga didn't forget anything. Lila really didn't want to hear Helga scoff or say something along the lines of "I told you so". She doubted that she could handle it.

"Helga?..." Someone said from behind them.

Everyone turned around to see the girl from the path standing there. She was glancing between Rhonda, Lorenzo, and Helga and she looked as if she wasn't entirely sure about something.

"Desiree´!" Helga yelled. It was the first time that Lila had seen any real enthusiasm from Helga in a long time. Although, Lila wondered just how real that enthusiasm was. "It's '_ever_ _so'_ nice of you to join us." Helga stated sarcastically.

Lila rolled her eyes at Helga's sarcasm. "Really," she thought, "I haven't said that in a while". She didn't think that the girl would understand the intended pun, anyway.

Desiree' raised a finely shaped eyebrow at Helga and smirked.

"Then again, maybe she did understand the sarcasm."

Lila eyed the girl warily. She thought she recognized her from somewhere. She couldn't quite place her though. Then she noticed that Rhonda was looking at the girl angrily. Apparently, Rhonda had no love for this girl. Whoever she was.

And then, it hit her. Like a ton of bricks. The entire situation with Lorenzo came crashing down on her.

"YOU'RE CHEATING ON ME!!" She yelled turning to Lorenzo. He flinched at this particular outburst. He had been hoping to avoid a confrontation with her. He had never seen Lila mad. Of course, he didn't think that anyone ever had. She was a very calm person.

The girl, "Desiree´, is that her name?" Lorenzo wondered idly, climbed up on to the rock next to Helga as if she was getting ready to watch a movie. Which, the way it was going, it was probably as entertaining as one.

This was not how Lorenzo wanted to break up with Lila. Not with some stranger, his hopefully soon to be girlfriend, and horror upon horrors...Helga G. Pataki watching him. He didn't care what people said about her, or how much of a 'changed person' she was. He had seen her just the other day, punch somebody. He didn't know who it was she had punched, nor did he care. He just didn't want to be on the receiving end of her fist.

There had been a number of times through out his time in school with Helga where she had threatened Lorenzo. He had never really taken her seriously. With the exception of a select few, Helga was usually all talk. Most of the kids who had realized this left her alone about it, in case she actually decided to act on it.

One day though, Helga had pulled Lorenzo aside after class.

"_SO...'Renzo'," _

_Lorenzo rolled his eyes at Helga's blatant misuse of his name._

"_I heard that you and Miss Perfect are going out." She continued._

_Lorenzo sighed. Why couldn't she use their names? "Yes, we have been for a couple of months. Why do you care, Helga?" He asked._

"_I don't." She said. Then added, "Just don't hurt my friend. Or you'll answer to 'Old Betsy'"._

"_Your friend? Since when are you and Lila fr...Helga?" _

_Helga had walked off after her last statement. Leaving behind a bewildered Lorenzo. _

For his part, Lorenzo never mentioned the conversation to Lila. Although, there were a couple of occasions where he could have and probably should have. He pulled himself from his thoughts to see that Lila was still fuming. Desiree´ looked slightly amused. Helga had her trademark scowl on her face, and Rhonda was still looking at Desiree´ with contempt.

He needed to get away from here. And he needed to take Lila with him so that they could talk in private. Then he needed to figure out what was going on with Rhonda and that Desiree´ girl.

"Lila, can we go somewhere more private...?" He began.

Helga had been expecting something like this and spoke up before Lila could say anything. "No, no, I don't think so 'Renzo.' Whatever you have to say to Lila can be said in front of her friends."

Lila smiled slightly at Helga. And then, she too climbed up onto the rock. It was a little more difficult for her since she was wearing a dress. As much as she hadn't wanted to wear the green dress today, it was the only thing that she had clean this morning. It was definitely not made for climbing rocks. Desiree´ reached over to help pull her up onto the rock, and Helga grinned at her. This left Lorenzo and Rhonda on the ground.

Lila took a small pleasure in being able to look down on Lorenzo. It felt strange to her to be looking down on her former boyfriend and the school's social busy body and self-appointed trend setter. Both of whom far outclassed her on the monetary level. Suddenly she didn't know what to think, or feel. And she was getting a headache.

"Just go away Lorenzo", Lila said.

"But...", he started to reply.

"Look, it's obvious, you've been with Rhonda for a while. I heard everything you said to her about breaking up with me. I may be naive, but I'm not stupid. So, please, just GO AWAY!"

By this time Lila had tears rolling down her cheeks and she was trying her very best to take deep breaths just to get her little speech out. Helga had moved to stand behind Lila while Desiree´ moved to the other side of her and started kicking around a pebble.

Rhonda moved towards Lorenzo and grabbed his hand. "Let's just go", she said quietly. Giving Lila one last look and making sure that Helga wasn't going to come down from the rock and pound him into the ground, he walked off with Rhonda.

The three girls stood on the rock lost in their own thoughts for a minute.

"You know", Desiree´ said, truly speaking for the first time since she had shown up and bringing her two companions out of their thoughts, "I don't usually go for soap operas, but this real life stuff?...It's pretty interesting. Who knew, that drama in other people's lives could be so fun?"

There was a sharp intake of breath from Helga. She didn't know Desiree´ that well. What she did know of the girl was that she could be cold, cruel, and extremely blunt. To the point of causing tears on a grown man. (Helga wondered how true that story was.) From what Desiree's brother had told her, she didn't behave that way towards strangers.

Lila had had enough for the day. She couldn't take anymore stress or criticism and she especially couldn't take snide comments from complete strangers.

She snapped. Lila whirled around to face Desiree´. "Hi, I'm Lila," she began sarcastically. "Let me tell you a little about my life lately."

"First of all", she said quietly, "My 'Big Sis' calls to tell me that she's finally going to have her wedding. Which is fine. It really is. Except she's going to have it in two weeks. And, I'm supposed to be in it and I don't even have the money to get my dress for it,"

"Look...I," Desiree´ started.

"Then, I come to the park to meet my boyfriend of a year and a half, only to find out that he's cheating on me." Lila continued getting slightly louder. "And, it's not just _**anybody**_ that he's cheating on me with. It's _**Rhonda Wellington-Lloyd.**_ Do you KNOW who she is?"

"Well, actually..." Desiree´ tried again.

"On top of all of this, my dance coach has decided that our team is going to have 'practice competitions'. And that Miss Rhonda Wellington-Lloyd will be our captain this year." Lila continued on sardonically still talking over Desiree´. She started to walk towards Desiree´, as if to drive home a point.

"'Practice competitions' huh? What a coincidence. Heh, heh." Desiree´ said starting to get nervous from the way that Lila was advancing on her.

Lila, who was starting to sound slightly hysterical, continued on. "There was no reason _why_ something that should have rightfully been mine, was given to a stuck up snotty BITCH, just that it was!"

Helga was shocked to hear Lila curse. Lila didn't curse. Ever!

"AND, what I really want to know," Lila continued advancing on Desiree´, "is just who in the heck YOU are and WHY are you making snide comments about MY life?" She asked. There was no doubt about it, in Helga's mind, Lila had definitely reached hysteria.

Just as Lila had finished with her last question, Desiree´ ran out of room on the rock and fell the eight or so feet to the ground. Lila shook her head as if coming out of a trance.

"Desiree´ Lilywhite", Helga said quietly from behind Lila.

"Huh?" Lila asked turning to her.

"Her name", Helga said, "her name is Desiree´ Lilywhite. As in, Olga's future sister-in-law".

That confirmed it, Lila Sawyer was having a VERY bad day.

--

A/N: Reviews are welcome, constructive criticism is welcome, flames are not.


	2. Author's Note

**A/N: To all of you awesome readers out there who are anxiously awaiting the next chapter to this story, I must apologize for the EXTREMELY long wait. And I will also apologize up front for this not being another chapter. **

**The problem is, that Desiree and her brother and some of the other characters were starting to take over the story as I wrote it. It became less about Arnold and Helga and more about Desiree and her brother and their circle of friends. So I have decided that I am not going to continue this story. I will just rewrite it and most likely post it on fiction press.**

**Once again, I apologize for this. But it just isn't fair to my most favorite characters.**

**CHEERS!**

**Jeni**


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